Working with the Flash File System

Information About the Flash File System

The flash file system is a single flash device on which you can store files. It also provides several commands to help you manage software bundles and configuration files. The default flash file system on the switch is named flash:.

As viewed from the active switch, or any stack member, flash: refers to the local flash device, which is the device attached to the same switch on which the file system is being viewed. In a switch stack, each of the flash devices from the various stack members can be viewed from the active switch. The names of these flash file systems include the corresponding switch member numbers. For example, flash-3:, as viewed from the active switch, refers to the same file system as does flash: on stack member 3. Use the show file systems privileged EXEC command to list all file systems, including the flash file systems in the switch stack.

Only one user at a time can manage the software bundles and configuration files for a switch stack.

Displaying Available File Systems

To display the available file systems on your switch, use the show file systems privileged EXEC command as shown in this example for a standalone switch:

This example shows a switch stack. In this example, the active switch is stack member 1; the file system on stack member 2 is displayed as flash-2:, the file system on stack member 3 is displayed as flash-3: and so on up to stack member 9, displayed as flash-9: for a 9-member stack. The example also shows the crashinfo directories and a USB flash drive plugged into the active switch:

disk—The file system is for a flash memory device, USB flash, and crashinfo file.

network—The file system for network devices; for example, an FTP server or and HTTP server.

nvram—The file system is for a NVRAM device.

opaque—The file system is a locally generated pseudo file system (for example, the system) or a download interface, such as brimux.

unknown—The file system is an unknown type.

Flags

Permission for file system.

ro—read-only.

rw—read/write.

wo—write-only.

Prefixes

Alias for file system.

crashinfo:—Crashinfo file.

flash:—Flash file system.

ftp:—FTP server.

http:—HTTP server.

https:—Secure HTTP server.

nvram:—NVRAM.

null:—Null destination for copies. You can copy a remote file to null to find its size.

rcp:—Remote Copy Protocol (RCP) server.

scp:—Session Control Protocol (SCP) server.

system:—Contains the system memory, including the running configuration.

tftp:—TFTP network server.

usbflash0:—USB flash memory.

xmodem:—Obtain the file from a network machine by using the Xmodem protocol.

ymodem:—Obtain the file from a network machine by using the Ymodem protocol.

Setting the Default File System

You can specify the file system or directory that the system uses as the default file system by using the cdfilesystem: privileged EXEC command. You can set the default file system to omit the filesystem: argument from related commands. For example, for all privileged EXEC commands that have the optional filesystem: argument, the system uses the file system specified by the cd command.

By default, the default file system is flash:.

You can display the current default file system as specified by the cd command by using the pwd privileged EXEC command.

Displaying Information About Files on a File System

You can view a list of the contents of a file system before manipulating its contents. For example, before copying a new configuration file to flash memory, you might want to verify that the file system does not already contain a configuration file with the same name. Similarly, before copying a flash configuration file to another location, you might want to verify its filename for use in another command. To display information about files on a file system, use one of the privileged EXEC commands listed in the following table.

Table 2 Commands for Displaying Information About Files

Command

Description

dir [/all] [filesystem:filename]

Displays a list of files on a file system.

show file systems

Displays more information about each of the files on a file system.

show file informationfile-url

Displays information about a specific file.

show file descriptors

Displays a list of open file descriptors. File descriptors are the internal representations of open files. You can use this command to see if another user has a file open.

For example, to display a list of all files in a file system, use the dir privileged EXEC command:

Changing Directories and Displaying the Working Directory (CLI)

Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to change directories and to display the working directory:

SUMMARY STEPS

1.dirfilesystem:

2.cddirectory_name

3.pwd

4.cd

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action

Purpose

Step 1

dirfilesystem:

Example:

Switch# dir flash:

Displays the directories on the specified file system.

For filesystem:, use flash: for the system board flash device.

To access flash partitions of switch members in a stack, use flash-n where n is the stack member number. For example, flash-4.

Step 2

cddirectory_name

Example:

Switch# cd new_configs

Navigates to the specified directory.

The command example shows how to navigate to the directory named new_configs.

Step 3

pwd

Example:

Switch# pwd

Displays the working directory.

Step 4

cd

Example:

Switch# cd

Navigates to the default directory.

Creating Directories (CLI)

Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to create a directory:

SUMMARY STEPS

1.dirfilesystem:

2.mkdirdirectory_name

3.dirfilesystem:

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action

Purpose

Step 1

dirfilesystem:

Example:

Switch# dir flash:

Displays the directories on the specified file system.

For filesystem:, use flash: for the system board flash device.

Step 2

mkdirdirectory_name

Example:

Switch# mkdir new_configs

Creates a new directory. Directory names are case sensitive and are limited to 45 characters between the slashes (/); the name cannot contain control characters, spaces, slashes, quotes, semicolons, or colons.

Step 3

dirfilesystem:

Example:

Switch# dir flash:

Verifies your entry.

Removing Directories

To remove a directory with all its files and subdirectories, use the delete /force /recursivefilesystem:/file-url privileged EXEC command.

Use the /recursive keyword to delete the named directory and all subdirectories and the files contained in it. Use the /force keyword to suppress the prompting that confirms a deletion of each file in the directory. You are prompted only once at the beginning of this deletion process.

For filesystem, use flash: for the system board flash device. For file-url, enter the name of the directory to be deleted. All of the files in the directory and the directory are removed.

Caution

When directories are deleted, their contents cannot be recovered.

Copying Files

To copy a file from a source to a destination, use the copy source-url destination-url privileged EXEC command. For the source and destination URLs, you can use running-config and startup-config keyword shortcuts. For example, the copy running-config startup-config command saves the currently running configuration file to the NVRAM section of flash memory to be used as the configuration during system initialization.

You can also copy from special file systems (xmodem:, ymodem:) as the source for the file from a network machine that uses the Xmodem or Ymodem protocol.

Network file system URLs include ftp:, rcp:, and tftp: and have these syntaxes:

FTP—ftp:[[//username [:password]@location]/directory]/filename

RCP—rcp:[[//username@location]/directory]/filename

TFTP—tftp:[[//location]/directory]/filename

Local writable file systems include flash:.

Some invalid combinations of source and destination exist. Specifically, you cannot copy these combinations:

From a running configuration to a running configuration

From a startup configuration to a startup configuration

From a device to the same device (for example, the copy flash: flash: command is invalid)

To view all file systems available to copy on a specific switch, use the copy command as in the following example of a 5-member stack:

Switch# copy flash: ?
crashinfo-1: Copy to crashinfo-1: file system
crashinfo-2: Copy to crashinfo-2: file system
crashinfo-3: Copy to crashinfo-3: file system
crashinfo-4: Copy to crashinfo-4: file system
crashinfo-5: Copy to crashinfo-5: file system
crashinfo: Copy to crashinfo: file system
flash-1: Copy to flash-1: file system
flash-2: Copy to flash-2: file system
flash-3: Copy to flash-3: file system
flash-4: Copy to flash-4: file system
flash-5: Copy to flash-5: file system
flash: Copy to flash: file system
ftp: Copy to ftp: file system
http: Copy to http: file system
https: Copy to https: file system
null: Copy to null: file system
nvram: Copy to nvram: file system
rcp: Copy to rcp: file system
revrcsf: Copy to revrcsf: file system
running-config Update (merge with) current system configuration
scp: Copy to scp: file system
startup-config Copy to startup configuration
stby-crashinfo: Copy to stby-crashinfo: file system
stby-flash: Copy to stby-flash: file system
stby-nvram: Copy to stby-nvram: file system
stby-rcsf: Copy to stby-rcsf: file system
stby-usbflash0: Copy to stby-usbflash0: file system
syslog: Copy to syslog: file system
system: Copy to system: file system
tftp: Copy to tftp: file system
tmpsys: Copy to tmpsys: file system
usbflash0-1: Copy to usbflash0-1: file system
usbflash0-2: Copy to usbflash0-2: file system
usbflash0-3: Copy to usbflash0-3: file system
usbflash0-4: Copy to usbflash0-4: file system
usbflash0-5: Copy to usbflash0-5: file system
usbflash0: Copy to usbflash0: file system
Switch#

This example shows how to copy a config file stored in the flash partition of switch 2 to the flash partition of switch 4. It assumes that switch 2 and switch 4 are in the same stack.

Switch# copy flash-2:config.txt flash-4:config.txt

Deleting Files

When you no longer need a file on a flash memory device, you can permanently delete it. To delete a file or directory from a specified flash device, use the delete [/force] [/recursive] [filesystem:]/file-url privileged EXEC command.

Use the /recursive keyword for deleting a directory and all subdirectories and the files contained in it. Use the /force keyword to suppress the prompting that confirms a deletion of each file in the directory. You are prompted only once at the beginning of this deletion process. Use the /force and /recursive keywords for deleting old software images that were installed by using the archive download-sw command but are no longer needed.

If you omit the filesystem: option, the switch uses the default device specified by the cd command. For file-url, you specify the path (directory) and the name of the file to be deleted.

When you attempt to delete any files, the system prompts you to confirm the deletion.

Caution

When files are deleted, their contents cannot be recovered.

This example shows how to delete the file
myconfig from the default flash memory device:

Switch# delete myconfig

Creating, Displaying and Extracting Files (CLI)

You can create a file and write files into it, list the files in a file, and extract the files from a file as described in the next sections.

Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to create a file, display the contents, and extract it:

For flash:/file-url, specify the location on the local flash file system in which the new file is created. You can also specify an optional list of files or directories within the source directory to add to the new file. If none are specified, all files and directories at this level are written to the newly created file.

Step 2

archive tar /tablesource-url

Example:

switch# archive tar /table
flash: /new_configs

Displays the contents of a file.

For source-url, specify the source URL alias for the local or network file system. The -filename. is the file to display. These options are supported:

For flash:/file-url [dir/file...], specify the location on the local flash file system from which the file is extracted. Use the dir/file... option to specify a list of files or directories within the file to be extracted. If none are specified, all files and directories are extracted.

Step 4

more [ /ascii | /binary | /ebcdic] /file-url

Example:

switch# more
flash:/new-configs

Displays the contents of any readable file, including a file on a remote file system.

Additional References

Related Documents

Related Topic

Document Title

Commands for managing flash: file systems

Cisco IOS Configuration Fundamentals Command Reference

Error Message Decoder

Description

Link

To help you research and resolve system error messages in this release, use the Error Message Decoder tool.

RFCs

No new or modified RFCs are supported by this feature, and support for existing RFCs has not been modified by this feature.

--

Technical Assistance

Description

Link

The Cisco Support website provides extensive online resources, including documentation and tools for troubleshooting and resolving technical issues with Cisco products and technologies.

To receive security and technical information about your products, you can subscribe to various services, such as the Product Alert Tool (accessed from Field Notices), the Cisco Technical Services Newsletter, and Really Simple Syndication (RSS) Feeds.

Access to most tools on the Cisco Support website requires a Cisco.com user ID and password.